


Keeping Faith

by thatsoccercoach



Series: A Story of Faith [2]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Family Fluff, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 05:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13757259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach





	Keeping Faith

                                                                              

When he’d come home from work that morning Claire had already been at the front door with her bags, a look of fear in her lovely eyes. He’d felt completely helpless as he’d taken in the sight. His delicate wife, one hand on her lower back, the other low on her belly sheltering their child.

“I’m bleeding, Jamie. I think we should go in.” 

He didn’t know what he’d said in response but he prayed it had been reassuring. He’d taken her coat from the rack near their front door and helped her into it. Had taken her bags to the car then had returned to hold her elbow as she slowly, cautiously made her way to their car, then he’d loped back to lock the front door behind them.

He’d held her hand as they drove. One on the wheel, the other entwined in hers, praying that she could feel his love, his pride, and his desperation that all would be well in that simple touch. _Lord, that she may be safe. She and the child._

“You’re thirty-four weeks along, correct Mrs. Fraser?” a doctor they didn’t know inquired while looking at a chart instead of looking at them.

Claire nodded then found her voice. “Yes, yes I am. But tomorrow would be thirty-five,” she whispered. The note of pleading in her voice broke Jamie’s heart once again. She needed to know that was enough for her baby. That she’d _done_ enough.

“That’s far enough along that with a little bit of help breathing at first there shouldn’t be any big problems. We’ll have the NICU team standing by but you’re definitely in labor now so there’s no turning back.” With that, the doctor had turned and walked out the door leaving Claire with tears in her eyes once again and Jamie with nothing to do but attempt to reassure her with his presence.

At first, they’d watched tv together, not really thinking or paying attention. There was a while when Claire wanted to walk around. She’d held his arm as they trod the hallways, never letting go. The day wore on into night.

He tied her hair up on her head when she retched, holding the little basin for her as her entire body spasmed. A cool cloth in his hand pressed against her forehead and across the back of her neck when she felt hot. His arms wrapped around her bony shoulders when she said she was cold and couldn’t stop shaking. It had gone around and around like this for hours in a cruel carousel of anguish for his wife.

Now, Claire panted shallowly and quickly, eyes closed, clearly trying to slow her breathing and to manage the pain. Jamie’s forearm was clutched in one of her hands and the railing of the bed in the other hand as her knuckles turned white from the intensity of her grip.

“Mrs. Fraser?” the doctor glanced toward the head of the bed trying for Claire’s attention. “I need you to push, hard, on this next contraction. Your baby needs to come out _now._ ” The doctor’s tone had gone from encouraging to suddenly urgent.

Jamie looked at the NICU team standing ready and the monitors beside his wife but couldn’t make sense enough to understand what the problem was. So he listened. In bits and pieces he heard the doctor and other staff murmur under their breath. Phrases like “trouble finding the baby’s heartbeat” and “emergency c-section” and “no time left” assailed his ears and his heart.

“Now. _Hard_.” The doctor insisted again.

A tear rolled down Claire’s flushed cheek as she shook her head. “What did she say, Jamie?” she gasped out. “The doctor. What did she say?”

“She said ye must push hard, Claire. Ye’ve _got_ to do it now,” he insisted trying to balance intensity with reassurance.

“Mmmhmm,” she grunted, then tucked her chin down to her chest, caught a breath, and pushed, her entire body trembling with the effort. She pulled her husband closer and pressed her face into him.

He knew the moment it was over because Claire first went limp as a fish then, a split second later, nearly scrambled upright to see their child.

“Is she all right? Is my baby all right?” she begged desperately but was answered with silence.

The baby didn’t cry at all. It was obviously that she wasn’t breathing. The NICU team snatched her away as soon as the cord was cut and whisked her across the room to attend to her.

“Is my baby all right?” she asked again. Louder this time. She nudged Jamie away from her and toward their daughter as if he could fix things.

And then their daughter cried. And Jamie thought his legs might fail him.

“Here you go, Mom,” said a nurse bringing the tiny infant over. “Just a quick hello then we need her back so we can make sure her lungs will be fine.”

“Oh, Lovey,” the tears slid down his wife’s face in earnest now. “We’ve waited for you such a long time.”

And he watched his beautiful wife hold their child to her heart.

* * *

“It’s such a big name for such a small baby though, Jamie.” She sighed happily this time. She sat gently, carefully in the oversized chair in the NICU where their daughter was on oxygen and was being monitored. Her hand alternately stroked the infant’s back, her tiny feet, and the fine curls on her head poking from under a hat. “But it would be special to bear all those names. Do you think it too much of a burden?”

Hand resting warm on her shoulder, he answered with certainty. “Nay, I dinna think it a burden. I’ve lived wi’ many names and I always thought it a blessing that I was given them. I hoped to do them justice knowing who they were from.”

“I don’t doubt that she’ll do them justice. Can a baby have courage, do you think? Because I feel as if she has demonstrated courage already.” She beamed, first at her daughter and then at her husband.

“She isna the only courageous one,” he bent and kissed his strong Sassenach. “So, the name…” he trailed off leaving the final say to her.

“So, yes. She is our miracle, our Faith.” She smiled at Jamie, eyes sparkling with happy tears.

“Faith Janet Alexandra Mackenzie Fraser.”


End file.
